


this rough magic

by Echo (Lyrecho)



Series: Capella's Promise [1]
Category: Capella's Promise
Genre: Gen, One Shot, RPG Maker Game, Rayne-centric, Universe Alteration, Worldbuilding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-07
Updated: 2016-07-07
Packaged: 2018-07-22 01:39:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7413577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyrecho/pseuds/Echo
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>First encounters, and first impressions. Rayne, the party, and Chardam.</p><p> <a href="http://memoriesofpurelight.tumblr.com">|Tumblr|</a></p><p> <a href="http://twitter.com/lyrecho">|Twitter|</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	this rough magic

**Author's Note:**

> [Go here](http://vgperson.com/games/capella.htm) to download the game this fic is based on, completely free. Main story took me almost fifty hours, and I haven't even begun the brutal post-game yet.
> 
> \- Fic is mostly spoiler free, being set within the early hours of the game, but you should still go and _play_ it. No, seriously. Capella's Promise is _amazing_  
>  \- A lot of the mechanics and backstory (Rayne's in particlar) is compliant to my personal headcanon rather than actual canon, so don't take this fic (or any others that come after it) as an authority.

These people were _really_ weird.

Well. Shena seemed okay, if quiet, and none of them had been horrible to her, or anything like that - had in fact saved her from Commander Douchebag - but still. The point stood. _Weird_.

She missed Grandpa.

They'd kept Rayne positioned behind them, hovering just over Shena's shoulder, by the handles of her wheelchair; Velk and Ricky walking in front of them, weapons drawn. Every time they encountered another monster, the two boys dispatched of it as quickly as they could, Ricky's spear stabbing and Velk's sword slashing. Shena, too, had a weapon - a bow she held in her lap as they traveled through the underground halls of Chardam's dungeon levels - and, now that Rayne was with them and could push Shena along, the older girl could be as constantly vigilant as their male companions, hands tensing every time they ran into another battle.

As of yet, Shena hadn't shot an arrow. Most of the monsters they encountered were being taken down by Velk and Ricky stealthily, with one or two hits. This wasn't about experience, or honing skills - it was about getting out of there safely. Rayne, after all, couldn't fight properly (not yet, at least). The brief explosion of heat and fire she had summoned up when Scruffy had startled her aside, her magic was faulty at best, and they could in no way rely on her as a party member. It was sad, but true. They had to get out of Chardam and the forest, and back to Norma - where they could recover, and Rayne could work on some spells (Shena had promised to help her).

They turned another corner, the cracked and crumbling grey that made up the narrow halls of the dungeon fading to a more open space, and a more natural brown earth, and Shena perked up in her seat. "We're close, Rayne!" she said. "Master!"

Ahead of them, Velk nodded his head, the purple tail of his hair swaying against his back with the movement, a hand waved behind him in acknowledgement. "I know, Shena," he said, pausing to hover beside them. "I recognise the walls." His eyes were narrowed, his gaze searching. "Hey, Ricky," he called out. "We nearly out?"

The sole adult of their group turned, spear resting against his shoulder, the staff of it planted into the dirt of the ground. "Looks like," he said, tilting his head back. "A chamber or two, and we've reached the stairs - if that." He frowned. "The Chardam Guardian was in the entrance room. We'll have to sneak by it."

Rayne gulped. Dungeon Guardians weren't rare, she knew what they were, and she'd seen the Obelisk at the entrance to Chardam - but it had been inactive, the red stone embedded at the center dark and inert.

"Do you think it'll be active?" Velk questioned, as the party slowly began to move again.

Ricky sighed. "Probably," he said. "We've probably killed enough monsters by now to wake it up, and we _were_ the only ones down here when we entered. Even if others came in after us, it's basic Dungeon etiquette to let whoever entered first to have the first shot at the Guardian."

Rayne mouthed the words _Dungeon etiquette_ to herself, and wondered at how it made a bizarre sort of sense. The last thing anyone wanted to do when in a Dungeon was have other _people_ turn on them when tempers ran hot.

"We could take it," Velk said. "Can't be much harder than that stupid ghost-bird."

Shena giggled, and Rayne made a note to ask for _that_ story.

"If you really want to try it, be my guest," Ricky said. "But Filip is expecting us, and I don't plan on dying before I pay my debts. It's not my style."

Velk snorted and rolled his eyes, but didn't argue.

"Well, you lead the way then, Scruffy!" Rayne chirped out cheerfully, laughing to herself as Ricky shot her a glare.

-x-

As it was, they luckily made it out of Chardam without having to fight their way past the Guardian. Reaching the final (or first, depending on your perspective) room of the Dungeon, they encountered a group of men standing a wary distance from what Rayne could only presume to be the Chardam Guardian - a huge, hulking ogre-type monster, but larger than any she had ever seen, and skin pulsing a flashing red in time with the gem embedded in the Obelisk, now active and winking like a ruby heart.

Scruffy made a short, sharp gesture as they passed, never slowing - the Guardian's size also hampered its speed - and as they ran to the exit, the men pulled out their weapons and ran past them with a cheer, to confront the Guardian. As they climbed up the stairs and the air grew less stale, Rayne could hear the clashing of steel and the hissing of fire, and knew that those men were fighting for fun.

"Crazy bastards," Ricky swore. "I've only met a few groups like them before. Guardian hunters."

"Guardian hunters?" Velk's voice was pure curiosity.

"Don't go getting any ideas, kid," Ricky snorted as they finally, _finally_ broke through to sunshine, and Rayne could breathe again. "I mean, if you want to go and get yourself killed, that's your business, but I thought you were worried about your sister?"

Velk scowled at Scruffy as the exited the Chardam House, heading into the humid and darkening woods that would lead to Norma. "Shut up," Velk snapped, his eyes burning violet fire. "Of course sis is my priority right now. In fact, the only reason I'm out here right now is because of _you_!"

Ricky let out a nervous chuckle, and Rayne sent a worried glance Shena's way. She didn't know any of them very well, only had barely an hours’ worth of first impressions and the fact that they had saved her to judge them off of, so she didn't know if this was normal, or something that came about because of the stress of the Dungeon - but it seemed like it was getting serious.

Thankfully, with a gentle smile, Shena seemed to understand her concerns. "Master," she called out to Velk. "Do you think we have enough to go back to Mister Filip, now?"

Velk's attention jerked instinctively from Ricky to Shena at the sound of his name, and Rayne took an automatic step back at the ferocity of his glare when it fell in their direction, before shaking her head with a scowl and straightening her back, standing firm in a way she hoped meant no-one would notice her moment of fright.

After a moment, however, Velk seemed to register who he was staring at, and his gaze cooled, from something akin to molten steel to banked embers. "What?" he said, and his voice was rough.

"I think we have enough for Mister Filip, now!" Shena's eyes crinkled shut as her head tilted in a genuine smile; holding open the leather sack on her lap, filled with jewel encrusted mirrors and silver statuettes. "That means Mister Ricky is free of his debt now, right? And Mister Filip will help us find your sister!" Her eyes were wide open, honest and fixed on Velk's as she finished, and Rayne marveled at how well the older girl had defused the situation even as Scruffy winced and sent Shena looks of wide-eyed betrayal at bringing his existence back into Velk's mind from where he'd slowly been edging away from the younger boy.

Velk payed Ricky absolutely no attention, however, simply glancing down at the sack Shena still held open for approval, before tilting his gaze skyward and muttering under his breath. "Yeah," he said finally, blinking as he looked back down at Shena. "More than enough, actually. We'll probably get at least a few thousand galuc in profit."

Ricky lit up like a Yuletide tree. "A few _thousand_?" He began, and Velk scowled.

" _I'll_ keep hold of the money," Velk declared, and Rayne couldn't help but agree. Shena didn't exactly look threatening, and while Velk honestly didn't either, his thuggish attitude was more than enough to ward most people off - and somehow, she just felt that for whatever reason, Scruffy wasn't the sort of person you could trust with your gold.

"What about you, Rayne?"

Rayne blinked, and realised that, while she had been lost in thought, wondering just what it was that made Scruffy seem so... _not_ a responsible adult - Velk had been talking to her, and now even Shena was looking at her expectedly.

"Huh?" she said. "What about me, now?"

"With the leftover funds, we could get you a weapon!" Shena enthused. "Magic works best when you have something to channel it through, Rayne!"

"That sounds nice," Rayne smiled. "But you guys really don't have to spend any of your money on me."

"Well, then you can earn some," Velk said, and promptly sat down on the dampening ground.

Rayne sent a bewildered glance Ricky's way as Shena, humming serenely, rolled closer to where Velk was digging through his bag, and was only answered with a shrug.

"This gonna take long, kid?" he asked. "It'll be dark soon."

Velk shook his head. "I'll be fast." He sent a look Rayne's way. "You got a preffered weapon?"

"Um..." Rayne said. "Something good for magic?" She sent a glance Shena's way, and the elder girl merely shrugged helplessly.

"I channel mine through my arrows," she said. "But I don't think that's the best way."

Ricky snorted from where he was leaning up against a tree, hat tilted down to cover his eyes, arms crossed over his chest. "Staves are best for black magic," he said. "Wands for white, and staffs can be used for most types easily enough." As if sensing the shocked looks that fell upon him, Scruffy scowled. "I _am_ an archeologist, you know."

"Oh yeah," Velk muttered. "A regular scholarly type."

Quietly, Shena giggled, and Velk sent her a quick grin.

"I think... I'd like a staff," Rayne said.

"It'll only be something basic," Velk warned. "And you might get something better from a drop."

Confused, Rayne shrugged. "Okay?"

Reaching under his jacket, Velk pulled out what was quite possibly the most beautiful thing Rayne had ever seen.

" _Wow..._ " she breathed. "Wait. If you needed money, why didn't you just sell that?"

At her words, Ricky perked up, his attention summoned back to the present by mention of potential wealth. Upon seeing what Velk held, he whistled low. "Geez, kid," he said. "You've been holding out on me."

"I don't understand," Shena said, glancing from one of them to the other. "What's so special about Master's chalice?"

Velk shrugged, as if he somehow wasn't sure, either. "It was my mother's, apparently." he said. "She left it to me." It was then that he pulled his hand from out of his bag, to reveal a handful of what looked like fine, silver sand.

"Manarel dust?" Rayne asked curiously, leaning forward as Velk tilted his hand to pour the Manarel into the chalice, and Velk hummed in agreement.

The chalice was all silver, and somehow appeared to be one single object, stem and cup showing no visible seams, as if the elaborate knots that formed the exterior of the cup (like a pattern of flames, or the silk drapings of dancing girls) had poured down directly to form the stem and frozen that way. It shone like starlight, the moon, and not a single spot of it was tarnished. With the metallic grains of the Manarel dust sitting, resting at the bottom of the chalice, it was ink-dark and silver-shadow.

"What are you going to _do_ with it?" Rayne asked, barely remembering that the whole point of this was to - _somehow_ \- get her a weapon.

"This," Velk said, and placed a hand over the top of the chalice.

Between his fingers, silver light bloomed.

Rayne stumbled back in instinctive panic, a deep, primal fear welling up within her.

_Fiora - Fiora!_

She shuddered, taking in a deep breath, and blinked back tears she hadn't realised had welled up. It wasn't real. _It wasn't real_ , and that light - whatever it was - wasn't going to hurt her.

(But - _Fiora_. That felt like a name - more than the Fear had ever given her before. If Grandpa was here, he'd tell her to stop thinking about it - that whoever she'd been in that memory, she was Rayne now, and she shouldn't feel bad for that.

 _No guilt rests on you, child. Never feel ashamed for simply existing_.

But Grandpa wasn't here - and Rayne couldn't _help_ but think on it.)

"It's pretty, Master!" Shena was leaning forward, almost out of her chair - positioned directly above both Velk (whose eyes were closed in concentration) and the light. "What is it?"

"Synthesis," Velk answered Shena, and Rayne was seriously having a heart attack. _Get back!_ she wanted to shout at Shena. _Get away from that evil light!_

But that wasn't the evil light (probably). Rayne didn't even know what the so-called 'evil light' was, having seen barely even glimpses of it in memories that didn't even technically exist. So Rayne kept quiet, and tried to calm her racing heart, pressing a palm hard against her chest, so hard she could feel bone - so hard it _hurt_.

"Synthesis," Shena repeated, as if committing it to memory, and Velk opened his eyes - removed his hand from where it covered the open top of the chalice. The light - before just a gentle glow emanating from beneath Velk's hand - intensified, bursting into white-hot, searing nebula - lighting up the entire clearing like a silver supernova for a brief moment, before dimming suddenly, completely, not even a glow left radiating from the chalice.

And, somehow, Rayne saw - blinking away the stars and spots that had clouded her vision in rainbow spectrum of colour - Velk _pulled a staff from the chalice_.

What.

"Here," Velk said, like everything was just _totally normal_ , holding out the staff for Rayne.

Automatically, she reached out to take it, a clumsy thanks stumbling from her mouth. It was basic, just as Velk had said it would be - no carvings or decoration, it was all function. A plain rod made up the main body of the staff, with a crook at one end (the top), tapering to a sharp point at the bottom. She could - most likely - impale something (some _one_ ) with it, if she had to - a morbid thought, but a realistic one. Pale, unvarnished wood formed the entire thing and Rayne just stared, open mouthed, as she wondered how it had come from a handful of _Manarel_ dust (let alone a _chalice_ ).

"Its stats are better than I was expecting," Velk said. "Nothing really defensive on it, but a fair amount of offense, and a good magic boost, too."

"It's made entirely of Manarel." Ricky's voice was faint. "Can't get much better for magic than that."

Numbly, Rayne nodded. Manarel was the binding element of life - it existed in everyone and everything, at least in some amount. It was what formed medicines and potions, what charmed weapons and armour - was what ran through human's veins and allowed them access to magical power.

Yeah. You really couldn't get much better for magic than that.

"Thank you," she said quietly, pulling the staff closer to her.

With a smile, Velk wandered back to where he had been sitting (where Shena was still sitting, dutifully keeping watch over his things) and began to pack his bag up.

Shena, smiling, wheeled herself over to Rayne's side. "Rayne!" She said. "Since Master's given you a weapon - I can teach you, now!"

Even through the sluggish shock Rayne felt, prickles of excitement sparked and warmed her. She was _good_ at magic (or rather, at least one half of her _had_ been), and her very nature guaranteed her almost overwhelming offensive strength - but there was a very large difference between reacting instinctively, and _knowing_ spells. She may have very nearly set Scruffy on fire, earlier - but she hadn't _meant_ to, and that was the problem.

"Okay," she said eagerly, shoving the issue that was Velk and his weird chalice aside. "What first?"

Shena smiled warmly. "Fray," she said. "The most basic fire spell." She blinked. "Some people can't use some magic," Shena confided. "Mister Ricky only knows the most basic offensive spells, and Master can't use magic at all!"

Rayne blinked. "That's weird, right?" she asked. "Magic comes from Manarel - and everyone has Manarel."

Shena shrugged helplessly. "Master can't do magic," she repeated. "It hurts him when he tries."

Alarm bells started ringing in the back of Rayne's mind, but she focused herself in on Shena's lesson. _Damn_ but she would know at least _one_ spell by the time Velk finished packing his bag back up and they headed out for Norma.

"So, how do I do this?" She asked, trembling slightly as she clutched at her staff.

"Here," Shena held out a hand, and closed her eyes. Hesitating for a brief second, Rayne did the same - she clasped her hands around the palm Shena held out, and her eyes fluttered shut.

"Can you feel me?"

Shena's voice. Echoing, bizarrely - after all, Shena was right there.

"We're holding hands, Shena. Of course I feel you."

Shena made a faint noise of disagreement. "No, Rayne - can you _feel_ me?"

Beneath the skin, visible only to the Mind's Eye, colours bloomed, psychedelic, swirling fires sparking like lightning trapped and harnessed to flow through veins.

"Manarel," Rayne breathed.

"Me," Shena agreed. "Now, can you _read_ me?"

Yes. Yes, Rayne could - could do it easily, oh so easily. Manarel and magic and the body's physical memory of those two things flew by her too fast to be comprehended, so many that they overwhelmed her - but if she stilled, focused, she could read her way through Shena's battle experience, know every spell that Shena knew, intrinsically.

But, somehow - she felt that would be rude, be dangerous, and Shena's grip tightened around hers - a warning, caution: _No, Rayne_.

Then, the grip loosened, vanished, and Rayne blinked - the physical world was back, and staring at Shena now, smiling at her serenely, she could see glimpses of deadly, lethal colour dancing through the older girl in front of her.

 _More_ than simply a mage, as Rayne was herself - no. Shena was a _sniper_ , and regardless of her mild and sweet disposition, carried the focus and terrifying precision with her always.

"Do you have it now?" Shena asked curiously.

"I think so," Rayne said, and reached deep within her, grip tightening on her staff as she raised it.

" _Fray!_ " She cried out, and something deep inside her _clicked_ into place.

Fire roared from her staff, spiraling out in a large ball of heated orange.

Shena applauded. "Well done, Rayne!" she smiled genuinely. "Now that you've read my Manarel, the rest of the spells should come with time."

Rayne nodded. "Where did you learn, Shena?" she asked curiously. After all, she had read a _lot_ of spells within Shena's Manarel, and if Ricky only knew the basics, and Velk couldn't do magic at _all_...

"Oh, monsters!" Shena said cheerfully. "And a couple of soldiers, some bandits."

Rayne gaped. "What?"

"Manarel is Manarel," Shena said firmly. "Miss Hanna taught me a trick, so I could fight with her and Master better, and Master helped me find an even easier way. If I eat the Manarel dust from the monsters, I can read their spells."

"And the bandits?" Rayne asked, not sure she wanted to know. "The soldiers?"

"Humans become dust when they die, too."

Shena's gaze was unflinching, and Rayne swallowed. All those spells locked away inside her now - they'd come from monsters slain, sure - but also people murdered.

 _Defeated,_ Rayne chanted in her mind. _They don't seem like cold-blooded killers - if they killed a human, I'm sure it was in a fair fight_.

And then Shena ate them, apparently. And Velk carried their remains around in his bag, so he could 'Synthesize' things in his weird chalice (with the evil light).

Okay, wow. Somehow, _Scruffy_ was the most normal of the people she had encountered today.

"Hey, are you guys ready?" Velk, hoisting his pack up onto his back, called out to him.

"Oi, we've been waiting for you!" Ricky protested.

"Yeah, and I was making Rayne a weapon, old man," Velk snapped. "What have _you_ contributed of use, today?"

Ricky spluttered in indignant, offended outrage, and Shena giggled.

Rayne relaxed. Whatever their quirks, they didn't seem like bad people. She'd stick with them a little while longer - just until she'd found Grandpa.


End file.
